Game Developers Conference -- NVIDIA today introduced NVIDIAÂ® SHIELD™, the world's first Android™ TV console, which delivers video, music, apps and amazing games to the home.

"SHIELD will change the way we enjoy digital entertainment at home," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "It's an incredibly powerful, efficient and advanced living room entertainment device. It's the best Android TV experience. And it can transform into a serious gaming machine. It's made to game."

Made to Game

SHIELD -- sold with the SHIELD controller made for serious gaming -- is a single platform with access to a wealth of great games.

First, 50+ Android titles optimized for SHIELD will be available for download, including AAA titles like Crysis 3, Doom 3Â®: BFG EditionT and Borderlands: TPS. These can be played at blistering speed, thanks to SHIELD's Tegra X1 processor, with its 256-core Maxwell™ architecture GPU and 64-bit CPU.

Second, favorite AAA titles, including console games, can be streamed using the GRID on-demand game-streaming service. GRID will include with its subscription price access to 50 titles, such as Batman: Arkham Origins, GRID 2 and Metro: Last Light Redux, with additional titles added each week.

Third, the GRID service can be used to purchase and stream new release AAA titles -- including Batman: Arkham Knight and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt coming later this year.

Broad Developer Support

Some of the world's leading game developers and publishers have embraced SHIELD and the GRID service.

"The incredible processing power of Tegra X1 enables us to bring Doom 3: BFG to Android and we're excited by the possibilities that GRID is bringing to gaming."
- Tim Willits, studio director, id Software

"Tegra X1's enormous processing capabilities running on Android TV gives us access to a much broader audience, and we're delighted to partner with NVIDIA to explore a variety of exciting possibilities for SHIELD, including the remastering of the survival horror classic, Resident Evil 5."
- Jun Takeuchi, managing corporate officer, CAPCOM

"SHIELD is definitely made to game and thanks to Tegra X1 we have The Witcher: Battle Arena playing natively on SHIELD. With GRID, we'll be able to bring new hit games to fans immediately."
- Benjamin Lee, The Witcher: Battle Arena lead producer, CDPROJEKT

Pricing and Availability

SHIELD will be available in May, starting at $199 with a controller. Optional accessories include additional controllers, a remote control and a stand enabling the device to stand vertically.

SHIELD is the central member of the SHIELD family of devices, complementing the SHIELD tablet, the ultimate tablet for gamers; and the SHIELD portable, the ultimate portable gaming device. More information is available at SHIELD.

It's kinda growing on me, at $200 it's not too bad... it's still kinda in the why not just spend more and get a Xbox One, PS4 or Wii U though. It seems powerful enough but frankly I'm NOT convinced about the developer support as Nvidia has dropped the ball each time with Shield Portable and Tablet. Both of them products they had all these amazing games lined up at the announcement and both times almost all of them never made it out. It's utterly ridiculous.

Looking past that, Shield is still a really well done smart TV device. Will have the support of Android games ... which range from crap to well done but really none worth a $200 console to be honest but you'll get all future games too so who knows what could be released down the line. Emulation will be HUGE on this device, Tablet can already do basically everything Dreamcast and prior, it's possible Shield will finally break Gamecube and possibly PS2 at some point. Regardless all the current emulators should run really well.

The biggest value here for me is it's built around Google Play. If you already have an Android Phone, Tablet etc then all of them games will automatically transfer over. Like wise any games you buy for Shield (if able hardware wise) will run on your phone and tablet too. Get a new phone or tablet and the cycle continues, Shield 2 comes out down the line? It all still works. This applies to Movies and Music as well. It's just a better way to do it than how consoles work now were you lose everything with a gen upgrade.

It's also got some pretty cool streaming features in the way of Grid talked about here. Also the ability to stream games from your PC provided you have a supported Geforce graphics card... both are niche and require something to function correctly but if you already have the right setup can add a lot of value.

IF Nvidia can deliver on the developer support and get some really good native games on it then this thing could be really cool, if not then it's gonna be a lot more niche and need to come down to $99 before it's worth much imo. Either way it's a more open platform than current consoles and I'm sure the tech crowd will find interesting things to do with it.

I'm really liking my Shield Portable so the idea of a console using the same ecosystem is very intriguing. I'm not sold yet though, I'm also curious to see if they update the portable with the new X1 chip... I think I'd honestly be more interested in that.